DOE: Crews Monitors Nuclear Site For Radiation

LUBMIN, GERMANY - JUNE 08: A symbol for radioactivity is visible on a radioactively-contaminated container once used to transport nuclear fuel rods at the nearby Greifswald former nuclear power plant at the Zwischenlager Nord temporary nuclear waste storage facility on June 8, 2011 in Lubmin, Germany. The Zwischenlager Nord, run by Energiewerke Nord GmbH, contains low, medium and high radioactive waste as well as spent nuclear fuel rods from both west and east German nuclear power plants and research reactors. The German government has stepped up its efforts to create a permanent nuclear storage site, and the former mines at Schacht Konrad and Gorleben are under consideration, though both remain controversial. The government recently announced it will phase out nuclear energy in Germany completely by 2022. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

(Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy stressed Sunday that no surface contamination has been found after airborne radiation was detected underground at a southeastern New Mexico site where the government stores low-grade nuclear waste.

The department says that tests were taken at several sites around the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant after a monitor found radiation on underground levels late Friday night.

No workers were underground and no injuries or damages have been reported.

A news release Sunday reflected information provided Saturday and said the “DOE emphasizes there is no danger to human health or the environment.”

Officials say the source of the radiation is still being investigated, but they don’t know when crews will go underground at the nation’s only deep geologic waste repository.

An underground vehicle fire at the site earlier this month prompted an evacuation, but officials don’t think the two events are related.

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